.TH GROFFER 1 "7 March 2023" "groff 1.22.4"
.SH NAME
groffer \- display groff files and man pages on X and tty
.
.
.\"*********************************************************************
.\"
.\" This man page doesn't use extended groff syntax!
.\" XXX: Yes, it does--"\~" is ubiquitous.  "\/" and "\," also occur.
.\" Formatting it with and without groff's option '-C' should always
.\" give the same result.
.\"
.\"*********************************************************************
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Legal Terms
.\" ====================================================================
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 2001-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"
.\" This file is part of groffer, which is part of groff, a free
.\" software project.
.\"
.\" You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
.\" General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software
.\" Foundation.
.\"
.\" The license text is available in the internet at
.\" <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html>.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Characters
.\" ====================================================================
.
.\" Ellipsis ...
.ie t .ds EL \fS\N'188'\fP\"
.el .ds EL \&.\|.\|.\&\"
.\" called with \*(EL
.
.\" Bullet
.ie t .ds BU \(bu
.el .ds BU *
.\" used in '.IP \*(BU 2m' (former .Topic)
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.SY groffer
.RI [ mode-option
\*(EL]
.RI [ groff-option
\*(EL]
.RI [ man-option
\*(EL]
.RI [ X-option
\*(EL]
.OP \-\-
.RI [ filespec
\*(EL]
.YS
.
.SY groffer
.B \-h
.SY groffer
.B \-\-help
.YS
.
.SY groffer
.B \-v
.SY groffer
.B \-\-version
.YS
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \%groffer
program is the easiest way to use
.BR \%groff (1).
It can display arbitrary documents written in the
.I \%groff
language, see
.BR \%groff (7),
or other
.I \%roff
languages, see
.BR \%roff (7),
that are compatible to the original
.I \%troff
language.
.
It finds and runs all necessary
.I groff
preprocessors, such as
.BR chem .
.
.
.P
The
.B \%groffer
program also includes many of the features for finding and displaying
the \%\f(CRUnix\fP manual pages
.nh
.RI ( man\~pages ),
.hy
such that it can be used as a replacement for a
.BR \%man (1)
program.
.
Moreover, compressed files that can be handled by
.BR \%gzip (1)
or
.BR \%bzip2 (1)
are decompressed on-the-fly.
.
.
.P
The normal usage is quite simple by supplying a file name or name of a
.I \%man\~page
without further options.
.
But the option handling has many possibilities for creating special
behaviors.
.
This can be done either in configuration files, with the shell
environment variable
.IR \%GROFFER_OPT ,
or on the command line.
.
.
.P
The output can be generated and viewed in several different ways
available for
.IR \%groff .
.
This includes the
X Window System-based
.I \%groff
program
.BR \%gxditview (1),
each
.IR \%PostScript ,
.IR \%PDF ,
or
.I \%DVI
display program, a web browser by generating
.I \%HTML
or
.I \%XHTML
in
.IR \%www\~mode ,
or several
.I \%text\~modes
in text terminals.
.
.
.P
Most of the options that must be named when running
.B \%groff
directly are determined automatically for
.BR \%groffer ,
due to the internal usage of the
.BR \%grog (1)
program.
.
But all parts can also be controlled manually by arguments.
.
.
.P
Several file names can be specified on the command-line arguments.
.
They are transformed into a single document in the normal way of
.BR \%groff .
.
.
.P
Option handling is done in \f(CRGNU\fP style.
.
Options and file names can be mixed freely.
.
The option
.RB \[lq] \-\- \[rq]
closes the option handling, all following arguments are treated as
file names.
.
Long options can be abbreviated in several ways.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "OPTION OVERVIEW"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.I breaking options
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-h\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-help
.OP \-v\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-version
.YS
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I \%groffer mode options
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-\-auto
.OP \-\-default
.OP \-\-default\-modes mode1,mode2,\*(EL
.OP \-\-dvi
.OP \-\-groff
.OP \-\-html
.OP \-\-latin1
.OP \-\-mode display_mode
.OP \-\-pdf
.OP \-\-pdf2
.OP \-\-ps
.OP \-\-source
.OP \-\-text
.OP \-\-to\-stdout
.OP \-\-tty
.OP \-\-utf8
.OP \-\-viewer prog
.OP \-\-www
.OP \-\-xhtml
.OP \-\-x\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-X\fP
.YS
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I options related to \%groff
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-T\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-device device
.OP \-Z\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-intermediate\-output\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-ditroff
.YS
.P
All further
.B \%groff
short options are accepted.
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I options for man\~pages
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-\-apropos
.OP \-\-apropos\-data
.OP \-\-apropos\-devel
.OP \-\-apropos\-progs
.OP \-\-man
.OP \-\-no\-man
.OP \-\-no\-special
.OP \-\-whatis
.YS
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I long options taken over from GNU man
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-\-all
.OP \-\-ascii
.OP \-\-ditroff
.OP \-\-extension suffix
.OP \-\-locale language
.OP \-\-local\-file
.OP \-\-location\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-where
.OP \-\-manpath dir1:dir2:\*(EL
.OP \-\-no\-location
.OP \-\-pager program
.OP \-\-sections sec1:sec2:\*(EL
.OP \-\-systems sys1,sys2,\*(EL
.OP \-\-troff\-device device
.YS
.P
Further long options of \f(CRGNU\fP
.B man
are accepted as well.
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I options mapped to X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics options
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-\-bd\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-bordercolor pixels
.OP \-\-bg\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-background color
.OP \-\-bw\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-borderwidth pixels
.OP \-\-display X-display
.OP \-\-fg\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-foreground color
.OP \-\-fn\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-ft\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-font font_name
.OP \-\-geometry size_pos
.OP \-\-resolution value
.OP \-\-rv
.OP \-\-title string
.OP \-\-xrm X\-resource
.YS
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I options for development
.RS
.P
.SY
.OP \-\-debug
.OP \-\-debug\-filenames
.OP \-\-debug\-grog
.OP \-\-debug\-keep
.OP \-\-debug\-params
.OP \-\-debug\-tmpdir
.OP \-\-do\-nothing
.OP \-\-print text
.OP \-V
.YS
.RE
.
.
.TP
.I \%filespec arguments
.RS
.P
The
.I \%filespec
parameters are all arguments that are neither an option nor an option
argument.
.
They usually mean a file name or a
.I man page
searching scheme.
.
.
.P
In the following, the term
.I section_extension
is used.
.
It means a word that consists of a
.I man section
that is optionally followed by an
.IR extension .
.
The name of a
.I man section
is a single character from
.BR \%[1\(en9on] ,
the
.I extension
is some word.
.
The
.I extension
is mostly lacking.
.
.
.P
No
.I \%filespec
parameters means standard input.
.
.
.TP 10m
.B \-
stands for standard input (can occur several times).
.
.
.TP
.I filename
the path name of an existing file.
.
.
.TP
.BI man: name ( section_extension )
.TQ
.BI man: name . section_extension
.TQ
.IB name ( section_extension )
.TQ
.IB name . section_extension
.TQ
.I "section_extension name"
search the \%man\~page
.I \%name
in the section with optional extension
.IR section_extension .
.
.
.TP
.BI man: name
\%man\~page in the lowest
.I \%man\~section
that has
.IR \%name .
.
.
.TP
.I name
if
.I \%name
is not an existing file search for the man\~page
.I \%name
in the lowest man\~section.
.
.RE
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "OPTION DETAILS"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \%groffer
program can usually be run with very few options.
.
But for special purposes, it supports many options.
.
These can be classified in 5 option classes.
.
.
.P
All short options of
.B \%groffer
are compatible with the short options of
.BR \%groff (1).
.
All long options of
.B \%groffer
are compatible with the long options of
.BR \%man (1).
.
.
.P
Arguments for long option names can be abbreviated in several ways.
.
First, the argument is checked whether it can be prolonged as is.
.
Furthermore, each minus sign
.B \-
is considered as a starting point for a new abbreviation.
.
This leads to a set of multiple abbreviations for a single argument.
.
For example,
.B \-\-de\-n\-f
can be used as an abbreviation for
.BR \-\-debug\-not\-func ,
but
.B \-\-de\-n
works as well.
.
If the abbreviation of the argument leads to several resulting options
an error is raised.
.
.
.P
These abbreviations are only allowed in the environment variable
.IR \%GROFFER_OPT ,
but not in the configuration files.
.
In configuration, all long options must be exact.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "groffer breaking Options"
.\" ====================================================================
.
As soon as one of these options is found on the command line it is
executed, printed to standard output, and the running
.B \%groffer
is terminated thereafter.
.
All other arguments are ignored.
.
.
.TP
.B \-h\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-help
Print help information with a short explanation of options to
standard output.
.
.
.TP
.B \-v\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-version
Print version information to standard output.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "groffer Mode Options"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The display mode and the viewer programs are determined by these
options.
.
If none of these mode and viewer options is specified
.B \%groffer
tries to find a suitable display mode automatically.
.
The default modes are
.IR "mode pdf" ,
.IR "mode ps" ,
.IR "mode html" ,
.IR "mode xhtml" ,
.IR "mode x" ,
and
.I "mode dvi"
in the X Window System with different viewers and
.I mode tty
with device
.I utf8
under
.B less
on a terminal; other modes are tested if the programs for the main
default mode do not exist.
.
.
.P
In the X Window System, many programs create their own window when
called.
.
.B \%groffer
can run these viewers as an independent program in the background.
.
As this does not work in text mode on a terminal (tty) there must be a
way to know which viewers are X Window System-based graphical
programs.
.
The
.B \%groffer
script has a small amount of information on some viewer names.
.
If a viewer argument of the command\-line chooses an element that is
recognized as an X Window System-based program in this list, it is
treated as a viewer that can run in the background.
.
Unrecognized viewers are not run in the background.
.
.
.P
For each mode, you are free to choose whatever viewer you want.
.
That need not be some graphical viewer suitable for this mode.
.
There is a chance to view the output source; for example, the
combination of the options
.B \-\-mode=ps
and
.B \-\-viewer=less
shows the content of the
.I PostScript
output, the source code, with the pager
.BR less .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-auto
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=auto .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-default
Reset all configuration from previously processed command-line options
to the default values.
.
This is useful to wipe out all former options of the configuration, in
.IR \%GROFFER_OPT ,
and restart option processing using only the rest of the command line.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-default\-modes \ mode1,mode2,\*(EL
Set the sequence of modes for
.I \%auto\~mode
to the comma separated list given in the argument.
.
See
.B \-\-mode
for details on modes.
Display in the default manner; actually, this means to try the modes
.IR x ,
.IR ps ,
and
.I \%tty
in this sequence.
.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-dvi
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=\%dvi .
.
Known
.I \%DVI
viewers for the X Window System include
.BR \%xdvi (1)
and
.BR \%dvilx (1).
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-groff
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=groff .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-html
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=html .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-mode \ value
.
Set the display mode.
.
The following mode values are recognized:
.
.RS
.
.TP
.B auto
Select the automatic determination of the display mode.
.
The sequence of modes that are tried can be set with the
.B \-\-default\-modes
option.
.
Useful for restoring the
.I \%default\~mode
when a different mode was specified before.
.
.
.TP
.B dvi
Display formatted input in a
.I \%DVI
viewer program.
.
By default, the formatted input is displayed with the
.BR \%xdvi (1)
program.
.
.
.TP
.B groff
After the file determination, switch
.B \%groffer
to process the input like
.BR \%groff (1)
would do.
.
This disables the
.I \%groffer
viewing features.
.
.
.TP
.B html
Translate the input into HTML format and display the result in a web
browser program.
.
By default, the existence of a sequence of standard web browsers is
tested, starting with
.BR \%konqueror (1)
and
.BR \%mozilla (1).
The text HTML viewer is
.BR \%lynx (1).
.
By default, the existence of a sequence of standard web browsers is
tested, starting with
.BR \%konqueror (1)
and
.BR \%mozilla (1).
The text HTML viewer is
.BR \%lynx (1).
.
.
.TP
.B pdf
Transform
.I roff input files
into a
.I PDF file
by using the
.B groff (1)
device
.BR -Tpdf .
.
This is the default
.B PDF
generator.
.
The generated
.I PDF file
is displayed with suitable viewer programs, such as
.BR okular (1).
.
.
.TP
.B pdf2
This is the traditional
.IR "pdf mode" .
.
Sometimes this mode produces more correct output than the default
.BR "PDF mode" .
.
By default, the input is formatted by
.B \%groff
using the PostScript device, then it is transformed into the PDF file
format using
.BR \%gs (1),
or
.BR ps2pdf (1).
.
If that's not possible, the
.I PostScript mode (ps)
is used instead.
.
Finally it is displayed using different viewer programs.
.
.
.TP
.B ps
Display formatted input in a PostScript viewer program.
.
By default, the formatted input is displayed in one of many viewer
programs.
.
.
.TP
.B text
Format in a
.I \%groff\~text\~mode
and write the result to standard output without a pager or viewer
program.
.
The text device,
.I \%latin1
by default, can be chosen with option
.BR \-T .
.
.
.TP
.B tty
Format in a
.I \%groff\~text\~mode
and write the result to standard output using a text pager program,
even when in the X Window System.
.
.
.TP
.B www
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=html .
.
.
.TP
.B x
Display the formatted input in a native
.I roff
viewer.
.
By default, the formatted input is displayed with the
.BR \%gxditview (1)
program being distributed together with
.BR \%groff .
But the legacy X Window System application
.BR \%xditview (1)
can also be chosen with the option
.BR \-\-viewer .
The default resolution is
.BR 75dpi ,
but
.B 100dpi
are also possible.
.
The default
.I groff
device
for the resolution of
.B 75dpi
is
.BR X75\-12 ,
for
.B 100dpi
it is
.BR X100 .
.
The corresponding
.I "groff intermediate output"
for the actual device is generated and the result is displayed.
.
For a resolution of
.BR 100dpi ,
the default width of the geometry of the display program is chosen to
.BR 850dpi .
.
.
.TP
.B X
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=x .
.
.
.TP
.B xhtml
Translate the input into
.I XHTML
format, which is an
.I XML
version of
.IR HTML .
.
Then display the result in a web browser program, mostly the known
.IR "HTML viewers" .
.
.
.P
The following modes do not use the
.I \%groffer
viewing features.
.
They are only interesting for advanced applications.
.
.
.TP
.B groff
Generate device output with plain
.I \%groff
without using the special viewing features of
.IR \%groffer .
If no device was specified by option
.B \-T
the
.I \%groff
default
.B \%ps
is assumed.
.
.
.TP
.B source
Output the roff source code of the input files without further
processing.
.
.
.RE
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-pdf
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=pdf .
.TQ
.B \-\-pdf2
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=pdf2 .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-ps
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=ps .
.
Common PostScript viewers include
.BR \%okular (1),
.BR \%evince (1),
.BR \%gv (1),
.BR \%ghostview (1),
and
.BR \%gs (1),
.
In each case, arguments can be provided additionally.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-source
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=source .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-text
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=text .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-to\-stdout
The file for the chosen mode is generated and its content is printed
to standard output.
.
It will not be displayed in graphical mode.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-tty
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=tty .
The standard pager is
.BR less (1).
This option is equivalent to
.I man
option
.BR \-\-pager=\,\fIprog\fP .
The option argument can be a file name or a program to be searched in
.IR $PATH ;
arguments can be provided additionally.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-viewer \ prog
Choose a viewer program for actual device or mode.
.
This can be a file name or a program to be searched in
.IR $PATH ;
arguments can be provided additionally.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-www
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=html .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-X\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-x
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-mode=x .
Suitable viewer programs are
.BR \%gxditview (1)
which is the default and
.BR \%xditview (1).
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-
Signals the end of option processing; all remaining arguments are
interpreted as
.I \%filespec
parameters.
.
.
.P
Besides these,
.B \%groffer
accepts all short options that are valid for the
.BR \%groff (1)
program.
.
All
.RB \%non- groffer
options are sent unmodified via
.B \%grog
to
.BR \%groff .
.
So postprocessors, macro packages, compatibility with
.I classical
.IR \%troff ,
and much more can be manually specified.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Options related to groff"
.\" ====================================================================
.
All short options of
.B \%groffer
are compatible with the short options of
.BR \%groff (1).
.
The following of
.B \%groff
options have either an additional special meaning within
.B \%groffer
or make sense for normal usage.
.
.
.P
Because of the special outputting behavior of the
.B \%groff
option
.B \-Z
.B \%groffer
was designed to be switched into
.IR \%groff\~mode ;
the
.I \%groffer
viewing features are disabled there.
.
The other
.B \%groff
options do not switch the mode, but allow to customize the formatting
process.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-a
This generates an ASCII approximation of output in the
.IR \%text\~modes .
.
That could be important when the text pager has problems with control
sequences in
.IR "tty mode" .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-m \ file
Add
.I \%file
as a
.I \%groff
macro file.
.
This is useful in case it cannot be recognized automatically.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-P \ opt_or_arg
Send the argument
.I \%opt_or_arg
as an option or option argument to the actual
.B \%groff
postprocessor.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-T \fIdevname\fR\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-device \fIdevname\fR
.
This option determines
.BR \%groff 's
output device.
.
The most important devices are the text output devices for referring
to the different character sets, such as
.BR \%ascii ,
.BR \%utf8 ,
.BR \%latin1 ,
.BR \%utf8 ,
and others.
.
Each of these arguments switches
.B \%groffer
into a
.I \%text\~mode
using this device, to
.I \%mode\~tty
if the actual mode is not a
.IR \%text\~mode .
.
The following
.I \%devname
arguments are mapped to the corresponding
.B \%groffer
.B \-\-mode=\,\fIdevname\fR
option:
.BR \%dvi ,
.BR \%html ,
.BR \%xhtml ,
and
.BR \%ps .
All
.B \%X*
arguments are mapped to
.IR \%mode\~x .
Each other
.I \%devname
argument switches to
.I \%mode\~groff
using this device.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-X
is equivalent to
.BR "groff \-X" .
It displays the
.I groff intermediate output
with
.BR gxditview .
As the quality is relatively bad this option is deprecated; use
.B \-\-X
instead because the
.I \%x\~mode
uses an
.IR X *
device for a better display.
.
.
.TP
.B \-Z\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-intermediate-output\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-ditroff
Switch into
.I \%groff\~mode
and format the input with the
.I \%groff intermediate output
without postprocessing; see
.BR \%groff_out (5).
This is equivalent to option
.B \-\-ditroff
of
.IR \%man ,
which can be used as well.
.
.
.P
All other
.B \%groff
options are supported by
.BR \%groffer ,
but they are just transparently transferred to
.B \%groff
without any intervention.
.
The options that are not explicitly handled by
.B \%groffer
are transparently passed to
.BR \%groff .
.
Therefore these transparent options are not documented here, but in
.BR \%groff (1).
Due to the automatism in
.BR \%groffer ,
none of these
.B \%groff
options should be needed, except for advanced usage.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Options for man\~pages"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.B \-\-apropos
Start the
.BR \%apropos (1)
command or facility of
.BR \%man (1)
for searching the
.I \%filespec
arguments within all
.I \%man\~page
descriptions.
.
Each
.I \%filespec
argument is taken for search as it is;
.I section
specific parts are not handled, such that
.B 7 groff
searches for the two arguments
.B 7
and
.BR groff ,
with a large result; for the
.I \%filespec
.B groff.7
nothing will be found.
.
The
.I language
locale is handled only when the called programs do support this; the
GNU
.B apropos
and
.B man \-k
do not.
.
The display differs from the
.B \%apropos
program by the following concepts:
.RS
.IP \*(BU 2m
Construct a
.I \%groff
frame similar to a
.I \%man\~page
to the output of
.BR \%apropos ,
.IP \*(BU 2m
each
.I \%filespec
argument is searched on its own.
.IP \*(BU 2m
The restriction by
.B \-\-sections
is handled as well,
.IP \*(BU 2m
wildcard characters are allowed and handled without a further option.
.RE
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-apropos\-data
Show only the
.B \%apropos
descriptions for data documents, these are the
.BR \%man (7)
.IR sections\~4 ", " 5 ", and " 7 .
.
Direct
.I section
declarations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-apropos\-devel
Show only the
.B \%apropos
descriptions for development documents, these are the
.BR man (7)
.IR sections\~2 ", " 3 ", and " 9 .
.
Direct
.I section
declarations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-apropos\-progs
Show only the
.B \%apropos
descriptions for documents on programs, these are the
.BR \%man (7)
.IR sections\~1 ", " 6 ", and " 8 .
.
Direct
.I section
declarations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-whatis
For each
.I \%filespec
argument search all
.I \%man\~pages
and display their description \(em or say that it is not a
.IR \%man\~page .
This is written from anew, so it differs from
.IR man 's
.B whatis
output by the following concepts
.RS
.IP \*(BU 2m
each retrieved file name is added,
.IP \*(BU 2m
local files are handled as well,
.IP \*(BU 2m
the \fIlanguage\fP and \fIsystem\fP locale is supported,
.IP \*(BU 2m
the display is framed by a
.I groff
output format similar to a
.IR \%man\~page ,
.IP \*(BU 2m
wildcard characters are allowed without a further option.
.RE
.
.
.P
The following options were added to
.B \%groffer
for choosing whether the file name arguments are interpreted as names
for local files or as a search pattern for
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
The default is looking up for local files.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-man
Check the non-option command-line arguments
.nh
.RI ( filespecs )
.hy
first on being
.IR \%man\~pages ,
then whether they represent an existing file.
.
By default, a
.I \%filespec
is first tested whether it is an existing file.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-no-man\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-local-file
Do not check for
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
.B \-\-local-file
is the corresponding
.B man
option.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-no-special
Disable former calls of
.BR \-\-all ,
.BR \-\-apropos* ,
and
.BR \-\-whatis .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Long options taken over from GNU man"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The long options of
.B \%groffer
were synchronized with the long options of \f(CRGNU\fP
.BR man .
.
All long options of \f(CRGNU\fP
.B man
are recognized, but not all of these options are important to
.BR \%groffer ,
so most of them are just ignored.
.
These ignored
.B man
options are
.BR \-\-catman ,
.BR \-\-troff ,
and
.BR \-\-update .
.
.
.P
In the following, the
.B man
options that have a special meaning for
.B \%groffer
are documented.
.
.
.P
If your system has \f(CRGNU\fP
.B man
installed the full set of long and short options of the \f(CRGNU\fP
.B man
program can be passed via the environment variable
.IR MANOPT ;
see
.BR \%man (1).
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-all
In searching
.IR \%man\~pages ,
retrieve all suitable documents instead of only one.
.
.
.TP
.B \-7\~\fR|\fB\~\-\-ascii
In
.IR \%text\~modes ,
display ASCII translation of special characters for critical environment.
.
This is equivalent to
.BR "groff \%\-mtty_char" ;
see
.BR groff_tmac (5).
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-ditroff
Produce
.IR "groff intermediate output" .
This is equivalent to
.B \%groffer
.BR \-Z .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-extension \ suffix
Restrict
.I \%man\~page
search to file names that have
.I \%suffix
appended to their section element.
.
For example, in the file name
.I \%/usr/share/man/man3/terminfo.3ncurses.gz
the
.I \%man\~page
extension is
.IR \%ncurses .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-locale \ language
.
Set the language for
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
This has the same effect, but overwrites
.IR $LANG .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-location
Print the location of the retrieved files to standard error.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-no-location
Do not display the location of retrieved files; this resets a former
call to
.BR \-\-location .
.
This was added by
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-manpath \ 'dir1:dir2:\*(EL'
Use the specified search path for retrieving
.I \%man\~pages
instead of the program defaults.
.
If the argument is set to the empty string "" the search for
.I \%man\~page
is disabled.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-pager
Set the pager program in
.IR \%tty\~mode ;
default is
.BR \%less .
.
This can be set with
.BR \-\-viewer .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-sections \ sec1:sec2:\*(EL
Restrict searching for
.I \%man\~pages
to the given
.IR sections ,
a colon-separated list.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-systems \ sys1,sys2,\*(EL
Search for
.I \%man\~pages
for the given operating systems; the argument
.I \%systems
is a comma-separated list.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-where
Equivalent to
.BR \-\-location .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics Options"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The following long options were adapted from the corresponding
X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics options.
.
.B \%groffer
will pass them to the actual viewer program if it is an
X Window System program.
.
Otherwise these options are ignored.
.
.
.P
Unfortunately these options use the old style of a single minus for
long options.
.
For
.B \%groffer
that was changed to the standard with using a double minus for long
options, for example,
.B \%groffer
uses the option
.B \-\-font
for the X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics option
.BR \-font .
.
.
.P
See
.BR X (7)
and the manual
.I "X Toolkit Intrinsics \(en C Language Interface"
for more details on these options and their arguments.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-background \ color
Set the background color of the viewer window.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-bd \ pixels
This is equivalent to
.BR \-\-bordercolor .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-bg \ color
This is equivalent to
.BR \-\-background .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-bw \ pixels
This is equivalent to
.BR \-\-borderwidth .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-bordercolor \ pixels
Specifies the color of the border surrounding the viewer window.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-borderwidth \ pixels
Specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding the viewer
window.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-display \ X-display
Set the X Window System display on which the viewer program
shall be started.
.
See section \(lqDisplay Names\(rq in
.BR X (7)
for the syntax of the argument.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-foreground \ color
Set the foreground color of the viewer window.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-fg \ color
This is equivalent to
.BR \-\-foreground .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-fn \ font_name
This is equivalent to
.BR \-\-font .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-font \ font_name
Set the font used by the viewer window.
.
The argument is an X Window System font name.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-ft \ font_name
This is equivalent to
.BR \-\-font .
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-geometry \ size_pos
Set the geometry of the display window, that means its size and its
starting position.
.
See section \(lqGeometry Specifications\(rq in
.BR X (7)
for the syntax of the argument.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-resolution \ value
Set X Window System resolution in dpi (dots per inch) in some
viewer programs.
.
The only supported dpi values are
.B 75
and
.BR 100 .
.
Actually, the default resolution for
.B \%groffer
is set to
.BR 75dpi .
The resolution also sets the default device in
.IR "mode x" .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-rv
Reverse foreground and background color of the viewer window.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-title "\ 'some text'"
Set the title for the viewer window.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-\-xrm \ 'resource'
Set the X Window System server resource to the given value.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Options for Development"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.B \-\-debug
Enable all debugging options
.BR \-\-debug\-\,\fItype\fP .
.
The temporary files are kept and not deleted, the
.B grog
output is printed, the name of the temporary directory is printed, the
displayed file names are printed, and the parameters are printed.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-filenames
Print the names of the files and
.I \%man\~pages
that are displayed by
.BR \&groffer .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-grog
Print the output of all
.B grog
commands.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-keep
Enable two debugging informations.
.
Print the name of the temporary directory and keep the temporary
files, do not delete them during the run of
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-params
Print the parameters, as obtained from the configuration files, from
.IR \%GROFFER_OPT ,
and the command-line arguments.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-tmpdir
Print the name of the temporary directory.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-do-nothing
This is like
.BR \-\-version ,
but without the output; no viewer is started.
.
This makes only sense in development.
.
.
.TP
.B \-\-print=\,\fItext\fR
Just print the argument to standard error.
.
This is good for parameter check.
.
.
.TP
.B \-V
This is an advanced option for debugging only.
.
Instead of displaying the formatted input, a lot of
.I \%groffer
specific information is printed to standard output:
.
.RS
.IP \*(BU 2m
the output file name in the temporary directory,
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
the display mode of the actual
.B \%groffer
run,
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
the display program for viewing the output with its arguments,
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
the active parameters from the config files, the arguments in
.IR \%GROFFER_OPT ,
and the arguments of the command line,
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
the pipeline that would be run by the
.B \%groff
program, but without executing it.
.RE
.
.
.P
Other useful debugging options are the
.B \%groff
option
.B \-Z
and
.BR \-\-mode=groff .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Filespec Arguments"
.\" ====================================================================
.
A
.I \%filespec
parameter is an argument that is not an option or option argument.
.
In
.BR \%groffer ,
.I \%filespec
parameters are a file name or a template for searching
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
These input sources are collected and composed into a single output
file such as
.B \%groff
does.
.
.
.P
The strange \%\f(CRPOSIX\fP behavior to regard all arguments behind
the first non-option argument as
.I \%filespec
arguments is ignored.
.
The \f(CRGNU\fP behavior to recognize options even when mixed with
.I \%filespec
arguments is used throughout.
.
But, as usual, the double minus argument
.B \-\-
ends the option handling and interprets all following arguments as
.I \%filespec
arguments; so the \%\f(CRPOSIX\fP behavior can be easily adopted.
.
.
.P
The options
.B \-\-apropos*
have a special handling of
.I filespec
arguments.
.
Each argument is taken as a search scheme of its own.
.
Also a regexp (regular expression) can be used in the filespec.
.
For example,
.B groffer \-\-apropos '^gro.f$'
searches
.B groff
in the
.I man\~page
name, while
.B groffer \-\-apropos groff
searches
.B groff
somewhere in the name or description of the
.IR man\~pages .
.
.
.P
All other parts of
.IR groffer ,
such as the normal display or the output with
.B \-\-whatis
have a different scheme for
.IR filespecs .
No regular expressions are used for the arguments.
.
The
.I filespec
arguments are handled by the following scheme.
.
.
.P
It is necessary to know that on each system the
.I \%man\~pages
are sorted according to their content into several sections.
.
The
.I classical man sections
have a single-character name, either a digit from
.B 1
to
.B 9
or one of the characters
.B n
or
.BR o .
.
.
.P
This can optionally be followed by a string, the so-called
.IR extension .
The
.I extension
allows the storage of several
.I man\~pages
with the same name in the same
.IR section .
But the
.I extension
is only rarely used; usually it is omitted.
.
Then the
.I extensions
are searched automatically by alphabet.
.
.
.P
In the following, we use the name
.I section_extension
for a word that consists of a single character
.I section
name or a
.I section
character that is followed by an
.IR extension .
.
Each
.I \%filespec
parameter can have one of the following forms in decreasing sequence.
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
No
.I \%filespec
parameters means that
.B \%groffer
waits for standard input.
.
The minus option
.B \-
always stands for standard input; it can occur several times.
.
If you want to look up a
.I \%man\~page
called
.B \-
use the argument
.BR man:\- .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Next a
.I \%filespec
is tested whether it is the path name of an existing file.
.
Otherwise it is assumed to be a searching pattern for a
.IR \%man\~page .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
.BI \%man: name ( section_extension ) ,
.BI \%man: name . section_extension,
.IB \%name ( section_extension ) ,
or
.IB \%name . section_extension
search the \%man\~page
.I \%name
in \%man\~section and possibly extension of
.IR \%section_extension .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Now
.BI \%man: name
searches for a
.I \%man\~page
in the lowest
.I \%man\~section
that has a document called
.IR \%name .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
.I \%section_extension\~name
is a pattern of 2 arguments that originates from a strange argument
parsing of the
.B man
program.
.
Again, this searches the man page
.I name
with
.IR \%section_extension ,
a combination of a
.I section
character optionally followed by an
.IR extension .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
We are left with the argument
.I \%name
which is not an existing file.
.
So this searches for the
.I \%man\~page
called
.I \%name
in the lowest
.I \%man\~section
that has a document for this name.
.
.
.P
Several file name arguments can be supplied.
.
They are mixed by
.B \%groff
into a single document.
.
Note that the set of option arguments must fit to all of these file
arguments.
.
So they should have at least the same style of the
.I \%groff
language.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "OUTPUT MODES"
.\" ====================================================================
.
By default, the
.B \%groffer
program collects all input into a single file, formats it with the
.B \%groff
program for a certain device, and then chooses a suitable viewer
program.
.
The device and viewer process in
.B \%groffer
is called a
.IR \%mode .
.
The mode and viewer of a running
.B \%groffer
program is selected automatically, but the user can also choose it
with options.
.
.
The modes are selected by option the arguments of
.BR \-\-mode=\,\fIanymode .
Additionally, each of this argument can be specified as an option of
its own, such as
.BR anymode .
Most of these modes have a viewer program, which can be chosen by the
option
.BR \-\-viewer .
.
.
.P
Several different modes are offered: graphical modes for
the X Window System,
.IR \%text\~modes ,
and some direct
.I \%groff\~modes
for debugging and development.
.
.
.P
By default,
.B \%groffer
first tries whether
.I \%x\~mode
is possible, then
.IR \%ps\~mode ,
and finally
.IR \%tty\~mode .
.
This mode testing sequence for
.I \%auto\~mode
can be changed by specifying a comma separated list of modes with the
option
.B \-\-default\-modes.
.
.
.P
The searching for
.I \%man\~pages
and the decompression of the input are active in every mode.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Graphical Display Modes"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The graphical display modes work mostly in the X Window System
environment (or similar implementations within other windowing
environments).
.
The environment variable
.I \%DISPLAY
and the option
.B \-\-display
are used for specifying the X Window System display to be used.
.
If this environment variable is empty,
.B \%groffer
assumes that the X Window System is not running and changes to a
.IR \%text\~mode .
.
You can change this automatic behavior by the option
.BR \-\-default\-modes .
.
.
.P
Known viewers for the graphical display modes and their standard
X Window System viewer programs are
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
in a PDF viewer
.nh
.RI ( \%pdf\~mode )
.hy
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
in a web browser
.nh
.RI ( html ,
.RI ( xhtml ,
or
.IR \%www\~mode )
.hy
.RE
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
in a PostScript viewer
.nh
.RI ( \%ps\~mode )
.hy
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
X Window System
.I roff
viewers such as
.BR \%gxditview (1)
or
.BR \%xditview (1)
(in
.IR \%x\~mode )
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
in a DVI viewer program
.nh
.RI ( \%dvi\~mode )
.hy
.
.
.P
The
.I \%pdf\~mode
has a major advantage \(em it is the only graphical display mode that
allows searching for text within the viewer; this can be a really
important feature.
.
Unfortunately, it takes some time to transform the input into the PDF
format, so it was not chosen as the major mode.
.
.
.P
These graphical viewers can be customized by options of the
X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics.
.
But the
.B \%groffer
options use a leading double minus instead of the single minus used by
the X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Text modes"
.\" ====================================================================
.
There are two modes for text output,
.I \%mode\~text
for plain output without a pager and
.I \%mode\~tty
for a text output on a text terminal using some pager program.
.
.
.P
If the variable
.I \%DISPLAY
is not set or empty,
.B \%groffer
assumes that it should use
.IR \%tty\~\%mode .
.
.
.P
In the actual implementation, the
.I groff
output device
.I \%latin1
is chosen for
.IR \%text\~modes .
.
This can be changed by specifying option
.B \-T
or
.BR \%\-\-device .
.
.
.P
The pager to be used can be specified by one of the options
.B \-\-pager
and
.BR \-\-viewer ,
or by the environment variable
.IR PAGER .
If all of this is not used the
.BR \%less (1)
program with the option
.B \-r
for correctly displaying control sequences is used as the default
pager.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Special Modes for Debugging and Development"
.\" ====================================================================
.
These modes use the
.I \%groffer
file determination and decompression.
.
This is combined into a single input file that is fed directly into
.B \%groff
with different strategy without the
.I \%groffer
viewing facilities.
.
These modes are regarded as advanced, they are useful for debugging
and development purposes.
.
.
.P
The
.I \%source\~mode
with option
.B \-\-source
just displays the decompressed input.
.
.
.P
Option
.B \-\-to\-stdout
does not display in a graphical mode.
.
It just generates the file for the chosen mode and then prints its
content to standard output.
.
.
.P
The
.I \%groff\~mode
passes the input to
.B \%groff
using only some suitable options provided to
.BR \%groffer .
.
This enables the user to save the generated output into a file or pipe
it into another program.
.
.
.P
In
.IR \%groff\~\%mode ,
the option
.B \-Z
disables post-processing, thus producing the
.nh
.I groff intermediate
.IR output .
.hy
.
In this mode, the input is formatted, but not postprocessed; see
.BR \%groff_out (5)
for details.
.
.
.P
All
.B \%groff
short options are supported by
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "MAN PAGE SEARCHING"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The default behavior of
.B \%groffer
is to first test whether a file parameter represents a local file; if
it is not an existing file name, it is assumed to represent the name
of a
.IR \%man\~page .
The following options can be used to determine whether the arguments
should be handled as file name or
.I \%man\~page
arguments.
.
.TP
.B \-\-man
forces to interpret all file parameters as
.I \%filespecs
for searching
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
.TP
.B \-\-no\-man
.TQ
.B \-\-local\-file
disable the
.I man
searching; so only local files are displayed.
.
.
.P
If neither a local file nor a
.I \%man\~page
was retrieved for some file parameter a warning is issued on standard
error, but processing is continued.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Search Algorithm"
.\" ====================================================================
.
Let us now assume that a
.I \%man\~page
should be searched.
.
The
.B \%groffer
program provides a search facility for
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
All long options, all environment variables, and most of the
functionality of the \f(CRGNU\fP
.BR \%man (1)
program were implemented.
.
The search algorithm shall determine which file is displayed for a given
.IR \%man\~page .
The process can be modified by options and environment variables.
.
.
.P
The only
.I man
action that is omitted in
.B \%groffer
are the preformatted
.IR \%man\~pages ,
also called
.IR cat\~pages .
.
With the excellent performance of the actual computers, the
preformatted
.I \%man\~pages
aren't necessary any longer.
.
Additionally,
.B \%groffer
is a
.I roff
program; it wants to read
.I roff
source files and format them itself.
.
.
.P
The algorithm for retrieving the file for a
.I \%man\~page
needs first a set of directories.
.
This set starts with the so-called
.I man\~path
that is modified later on by adding names of
.I operating system
and
.IR language .
.
This arising set is used for adding the section directories which
contain the
.I \%man\~page
files.
.
.
.P
The
.I man\~path
is a list of directories that are separated by colon.
.
It is generated by the following methods.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
The environment variable
.I \%MANPATH
can be set.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
It can be read from the arguments of the environment variable
.IR MANOPT .
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
The
.I man\~path
can be manually specified by using the option
.BR \-\-manpath .
An empty argument disables the
.I \%man\~page
searching.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
When no
.I man\~path
was set the
.BR \%manpath (1)
program is tried to determine one.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
If this does not work a reasonable default path from
.I $PATH
is determined.
.
.
.P
We now have a starting set of directories.
.
The first way to change this set is by adding names of
.I operating
.IR systems .
.
This assumes that
.I \%man\~pages
for several
.I operating systems
are installed.
.
This is not always true.
.
The names of such
.I operating systems
can be provided by 3 methods.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
The environment variable
.I \%SYSTEM
has the lowest precedence.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
This can be overridden by an option in
.IR MANOPT .
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
This again is overridden by the command-line option
.BR \-\-systems .
.
.
.P
Several names of
.I operating systems
can be given by appending their names, separated by a comma.
.
.
.P
The
.I man\~path
is changed by appending each
.I system
name as subdirectory at the end of each directory of the set.
.
No directory of the
.I man\~path
set is kept.
.
But if no
.I system
name is specified the
.I man\~path
is left unchanged.
.
.
.P
After this, the actual set of directories can be changed by
.I language
information.
.
This assumes that there exist
.I man\~pages
in different languages.
.
The wanted
.I language
can be chosen by several methods.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Environment variable
.IR LANG .
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
This is overridden by
.IR \%LC_MESSAGES .
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
This is overridden by
.IR LC_ALL .
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
This can be overridden by providing an option in
.IR MANOPT .
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
All these environment variables are overridden by the command-line
option
.BR \-\-locale .
.
.
.P
The
.I default language
can be specified by specifying one of the pseudo-language parameters
\f(CRC\fP or \f(CR\%POSIX\fP.
.
This is like deleting a formerly given
.I language
information.
.
The
.I \%man\~pages
in the
.I default language
are usually in English.
.
.
.P
Of course, the
.I language
name is determined by
.BR man .
In \f(CRGNU\fP
.BR man ,
it is specified in the \%\f(CRPOSIX\~1003.1\fP based format:
.P
.nh
\fI<language>\/\fP[\f(CB_\fP\,\fI<territory>\/\fP[\f(CB.\fP\
\fI<character-set>\/\fP[\f(CB,\fP\,\fI<version>\/\fP]]],
.hy
.P
but the two-letter code in
.nh
.I <language>
.hy
is sufficient for most purposes.
.
If for a complicated
.I language
formulation no
.I \%man\~pages
are found
.B \%groffer
searches the country part consisting of these first two characters as
well.
.
.
.P
The actual directory set is copied thrice.
.
The
.I language
name is appended as subdirectory to each directory in the first copy
of the actual directory set (this is only done when a language
information is given).
.
Then the 2-letter abbreviation of the
.I language
name is appended as subdirectories to the second copy of the directory
set (this is only done when the given language name has more than 2
letters).
.
The third copy of the directory set is kept unchanged (if no
.I language
information is given this is the kept directory set).
.
These maximally 3 copies are appended to get the new directory set.
.
.
.P
We now have a complete set of directories to work with.
.
In each of these directories, the
.I man
files are separated in
.IR sections .
.
The name of a
.I section
is represented by a single character, a digit between
.I 1
and
.IR 9 ,
or the character
.I o
or
.IR n ,
in this order.
.
.
.P
For each available
.IR section ,
a subdirectory
.BI man <section>
exists containing all
.I man
files for this
.IR section ,
where
.I <section>
is a single character as described before.
.
Each
.I man
file in a
.I section
directory has the form
.IR \%\f(CBman\fP<section>\f(CB/\fP<name>\f(CB.\fP<section>\
[<extension>][\f(CB.\fP<compression>] ,
where
.I \%<extension>
and
.I \%<compression>
are optional.
.
.I \%<name>
is the name of the
.I \%man\~page
that is also specified as filespec argument on the command line.
.
.
.P
The
.I extension
is an addition to the section.
.
This postfix acts like a subsection.
.
An
.I extension
occurs only in the file name, not in name of the
.I section
subdirectory.
.
It can be specified on the command line.
.
.
.P
On the other hand, the
.I compression
is just an information on how the file is compressed.
.
This is not important for the user, such that it cannot be specified
on the command line.
.
.
.P
There are 4 methods to specify a
.I section
on the command line:
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Environment variable
.I \%MANSECT
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Command line option
.B \-\-sections
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Appendix to the
.I name
argument in the form
.I <name>.<section>
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Preargument before the
.I name
argument in the form
.I <section> <name>
.
.
.P
It is also possible to specify several
.I sections
by appending the single characters separated by colons.
.
One can imagine that this means to restrict the
.I \%man\~page
search to only some
.IR sections .
.
The multiple
.I sections
are only possible for
.I \%MANSECT
and
.BR \-\-sections .
.
.
.P
If no
.I section
is specified all
.I sections
are searched one after the other in the given order, starting with
.IR section\~1 ,
until a suitable file is found.
.
.
.P
There are 4 methods to specify an
.I extension
on the command line.
.
But it is not necessary to provide the whole extension name, some
abbreviation is good enough in most cases.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Environment variable
.I \%EXTENSION
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Command line option
.B \-\-extension
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Appendix to the
.I <name>.<section>
argument in the form
.I <name>.<section><extension>
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Preargument before the
.I name
argument in the form
.I <section><extension> <name>
.
.
.P
For further details on
.I \%man\~page
searching, see
.BR \%man (1).
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Examples of man files"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.B /usr/share/man/man1/groff.1
This is an uncompressed file for the
.I \%man\~page
\f(CRgroff\fP in
.IR section\~1 .
.
It can be called by
.EX
\fIsh#\fR groffer\~groff
.EE
No
.I section
is specified here, so all
.I sections
should be searched, but as
.I section\~1
is searched first this file will be found first.
.
The file name is composed of the following components.
.B /usr/share/man/
must be part of the
.IR \%man\~path ;
the subdirectory
.B man1/
and the part
.B .1
stand for the
.IR section ;
.B groff
is the name of the
.IR \%man\~page .
.
.
.TP
.B /usr/local/share/man/man7/groff.7.gz
The file name is composed of the following components.
.B /usr/local/share/man
must be part of the
.IR \%man\~path ;
the subdirectory
.B man7/
and the part
.B .7
stand for the
.IR section ;
.B groff
is the name of the
.IR \%man\~page ;
the final part
.B .gz
stands for a compression with
.BR gzip (1).
As the
.I section
is not the first one it must be specified as well.
.
This can be done by one of the following commands.
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~groff.7
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~7\~groff
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~\-\-sections=7\~groff
.EE
.
.TP
.B /usr/local/man/man1/ctags.1emacs21.bz2
Here
.B /usr/local/man
must be in
.IR \%man\~path ;
the subdirectory
.B man1/
and the file name part
.B .1
stand for
.IR section\~1 ;
the name of the
.I \%man\~page
is
.BR ctags ;
the section has an extension
.BR emacs21 ;
and the file is compressed as
.B .bz2
with
.BR bzip2 (1).
The file can be viewed with one of the following commands
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~ctags.1e
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~1e\~ctags
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~\-\-extension=e\~\-\-sections=1\~ctags
.EE
where \f(CRe\fP works as an abbreviation for the extension
\f(CRemacs21\fP.
.
.
.TP
.B /usr/man/linux/de/man7/man.7.Z
The directory
.B /usr/man
is now part of the
.IR \%man\~path ;
then there is a subdirectory for an
.I operating system
name
.BR linux/ ;
next comes a subdirectory
.B de/
for the German
.IR language ;
the
.I section
names
.B man7
and
.B .7
are known so far;
.B man
is the name of the
.IR \%man\~page ;
and
.B .Z
signifies the compression that can be handled by
.BR gzip (1).
We want now show how to provide several values for some options.
.
That is possible for
.I sections
and
.I operating system
names.
.
So we use as
.I sections\~5
and
.I 7
and as
.I system
names
.I linux
and
.IR aix .
The command is then
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR groffer\~\-\-locale=de\~\-\-sections=5:7\~\-\-systems=linux,aix\~man
\fIsh#\fR LANG=de\~MANSECT=5:7\~SYSTEM=linux,aix\~groffer\~man
.EE
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH DECOMPRESSION
.\" ====================================================================
.
The program has a decompression facility.
.
If standard input or a file that was retrieved from the command line
parameters is compressed with a format that is supported by either
.BR \%gzip (1)
or
.BR \%bzip2 (1)
it is decompressed on-the-fly.
.
This includes the \f(CRGNU\fP
.BR \%.gz ,
.BR \%.bz2 ,
and the traditional
.B \%.Z
compression.
.
The program displays the concatenation of all decompressed input in
the sequence that was specified on the command line.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \%groffer
program supports many system variables, most of them by courtesy of
other programs.
.
All environment variables of
.BR \%groff (1)
and \f(CRGNU\fP
.BR \%man (1)
and some standard system variables are honored.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Native groffer Variables"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.I \%GROFFER_OPT
Store options for a run of
.BR \%groffer .
.
The options specified in this variable are overridden by the options
given on the command line.
.
The content of this variable is run through the shell builtin
\[lq]eval\[rq],
so arguments containing whitespace or special shell characters should
be quoted.
.
Do not forget to export this variable, otherwise it does not exist
during the run of
.BR groffer .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "System Variables"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The following variables have a special meaning for
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.TP
.I \%DISPLAY
If set, this variable indicates that the X Window System is running.
.
Testing this variable decides on whether graphical or text output is
generated.
.
This variable should not be changed by the user carelessly, but it can
be used to start the graphical
.B \%groffer
on a remote X Window System terminal.
.
For example, depending on your system,
.B \%groffer
can be started on the second monitor by the command
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR DISPLAY=:0.1\~groffer\~what.ever &
.EE
.
.
.TP
.I \%LC_ALL
.TQ
.I \%LC_MESSAGES
.TQ
.I LANG
If one of these variables is set (in the above sequence), its content
is interpreted as the locale, the language to be used, especially when
retrieving
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
A locale name is typically of the form
.nh
.IR language [\c
.B _\c
.IR territory [\c
.B .\c
.IR codeset [\c
.B @\c
.IR modifier ]]],
.hy
where
.I \%language
is an ISO 639 language code,
.I \%territory
is an ISO 3166 country code, and
.I \%codeset
is a character set or encoding identifier like ISO-8859-1 or UTF-8;
see
.BR \%setlocale (3).
.
The locale values \f(CRC\fP and \%\f(CRPOSIX\fP
stand for the default, i.e.\& the
.I \%man\~page
directories without a language prefix.
.
This is the same behavior as when all 3\~variables are unset.
.
.
.TP
.I \%PAGER
This variable can be used to set the pager for the tty output.
.
For example, to disable the use of a pager completely set this
variable to the
.BR \%cat (1)
program
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR PAGER=cat\~groffer\~anything
.EE
.sp
.
.TP
.I PATH
All programs within the
.B \%groffer
script are called without a fixed path.
.
Thus this environment variable determines the set of programs used
within the run of
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Groff Variables"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \%groffer
program internally calls
.BR \%groff ,
so all environment variables documented in
.BR \%groff (1)
are internally used within
.B \%groffer
as well.
.
The following variable has a direct meaning for the
.B \%groffer
program.
.
.TP
.I \%GROFF_TMPDIR
If the value of this variable is an existing, writable directory,
.B \%groffer
uses it for storing its temporary files, just as
.B groff
does.
.
See the
.BR \%groff (1)
man page for more details on the location of temporary files.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Man Variables"
.\" ====================================================================
.
Parts of the functionality of the
.B man
program were implemented in
.BR \%groffer ;
support for all environment variables documented in
.BR \%man (1)
was added to
.BR \%groffer ,
but the meaning was slightly modified due to the different approach in
.BR \%groffer ;
but the user interface is the same.
.
The
.B man
environment variables can be overwritten by options provided with
.IR MANOPT ,
which in turn is overwritten by the command line.
.
.
.TP
.I \%EXTENSION
Restrict the search for
.I \%man\~pages
to files having this extension.
.
This is overridden by option
.BR \-\-extension ;
see there for details.
.
.
.TP
.I MANOPT
This variable contains options as a preset for
.BR \%man (1).
As not all of these are relevant for
.B \%groffer
only the essential parts of its value are extracted.
.
The options specified in this variable overwrite the values of the
other environment variables that are specific to
.IR man .
.
All options specified in this variable are overridden by the options
given on the command line.
.
.
.TP
.I \%MANPATH
If set, this variable contains the directories in which the
.I \%man\~page
trees are stored.
.
This is overridden by option
.BR \%\-\-manpath .
.
.
.TP
.I \%MANSECT
If this is a colon separated list of section names, the search for
.I \%man\~pages
is restricted to those manual sections in that order.
.
This is overridden by option
.BR \-\-sections .
.
.
.TP
.I \%SYSTEM
If this is set to a comma separated list of names these are interpreted
as
.I \%man\~page
trees for different operating systems.
.
This variable can be overwritten by option
.BR \-\-systems ;
see there for details.
.
.
.P
The environment variable
.I \%MANROFFSEQ
is ignored by
.B \%groffer
because the necessary preprocessors are determined automatically.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "CONFIGURATION FILES"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \%groffer
program can be preconfigured by two configuration files.
.
.
.TP
.B \%/etc/groff/groffer.conf
System-wide configuration file for
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.TP
.B \%$HOME/.groff/groffer.conf
User-specific configuration file for
.BR \%groffer ,
where
.I \%$HOME
denotes the user's home directory.
.
This file is called after the system-wide configuration file to enable
overriding by the user.
.
.
.P
Both files are handled for the configuration, but the configuration
file in
.B /etc
comes first; it is overwritten by the configuration file in the home
directory; both configuration files are overwritten by the environment
variable
.IR \%GROFFER_OPT ;
everything is overwritten by the command line arguments.
.
.
.P
The configuration files contain options that should be called as
default for every
.B \%groffer
run.
.
These options are written in lines such that each contains either a
long option, a short option, or a short option cluster; each with or
without an argument.
.
So each line with configuration information starts with a minus
character
.RB \[lq] \- \[rq];
a line with a long option starts with two minus characters
.RB \[lq] \-\- \[rq],
a line with a short option or short option cluster starts with a
single minus
.RB \[lq] \- \[rq].
.
.
.P
The option names in the configuration files may not be abbreviated,
they must be exact.
.
.
.P
The argument for a long option can be separated from the option name
either by an equal sign
.RB \[lq] = \[rq]
or by whitespace, i.e.\& one or several space or tab characters.
.
An argument for a short option or short option cluster can be directly
appended to the option name or separated by whitespace.
.
The end of an argument is the end of the line.
.
It is not allowed to use a shell environment variable in an option
name or argument.
.
.
.P
It is not necessary to use quotes in an option or argument, except for
empty arguments.
.
An empty argument can be provided by appending a pair of quotes to the
separating equal sign or whitespace; with a short option, the
separator can be omitted as well.
.
For a long option with a separating equal sign
.RB \[lq] = \[rq],
the pair of quotes can be omitted, thus ending the line with the
separating equal sign.
.
All other quote characters are cancelled internally.
.
.
.P
In the configuration files, arbitrary whitespace is allowed at the
beginning of each line, it is just ignored.
.
Each whitespace within a line is replaced by a single space character
\[lq] \[rq] internally.
.
.
.P
All lines of the configuration lines that do not start
with a minus character are ignored, such that comments starting with
.RB \[lq] # \[rq]
are possible.
.
So there are no shell commands in the configuration files.
.
.
.P
As an example, consider the following configuration file that can be
used either in
.B \%/etc/groff/groffer.conf
or
.B \%\s+2~\s0/.groff/groffer.conf .
.
.
.P
.ft CR
.nh
.nf
# groffer configuration file
#
# groffer options that are used in each call of groffer
\-\-foreground=DarkBlue
\-\-resolution=100
\-\-viewer=gxditview \-geometry 900x1200
.fi
.hy
.ft
.
.
.P
The lines starting with
.B #
are just ignored, so they act as command lines.
.
This configuration sets four
.B \%groffer
options (the lines starting with
.RB \[lq] \- \[rq]).
This has the following effects:
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Use a text color of
.B \%DarkBlue
in all viewers that support this, such as
.BR \%gxditview .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Use a resolution of
.B 100dpi
in all viewers that support this, such as
.BR \%gxditview .
.
By this, the default device in
.I x mode
is set to
.BR X100 .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Force
.BR \%gxditview (1)
as the
.I \%x-mode
viewer using the geometry option for setting the width to
.B 900px
and the height to
.BR 1200px .
This geometry is suitable for a resolution of
.BR 100dpi .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Use
.BR \%xpdf (1)
as the
.I \%pdf-mode
viewer with the argument
.B \-Z
.BR 150 .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The usage of
.B \%groffer
is very easy.
.
Usually, it is just called with a file name or
.IR \%man\~page .
.
The following examples, however, show that
.B \%groffer
has much more fancy capabilities.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~/usr/local/share/doc/groff/meintro.ms.gz
.EE
.sp
Decompress, format and display the compressed file
.B meintro.ms.gz
in the directory
.BR /usr/local/share/doc/groff ,
using the standard viewer
.B \%gxditview
as graphical viewer when in the X Window System, or the
.BR \%less (1)
pager program otherwise.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~groff
.EE
.sp
If the file
.B \%./groff
exists use it as input.
.
Otherwise interpret the argument as a search for the
.I \%man\~page
named
.B \%groff
in the smallest possible
.IR \%man\~section ,
being section 1 in this case.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~man:groff
.EE
.sp
search for the
.I \%man\~page
of
.B \%groff
even when the file
.B ./groff
exists.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~groff.7
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~7\~groff
.EE
.sp
search the
.I \%man\~page
of
.B \%groff
in
.I \%man\~section
.BR 7 .
This section search works only for a digit or a single character from
a small set.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~fb.modes
.EE
.sp
If the file
.B ./fb.modes
does not exist interpret this as a search for the
.I \%man\~page
of
.BR fb.modes .
As the extension
.I \%modes
is not a single character in classical section style the argument is
not split to a search for
.BR fb .
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~groff\~\(cqtroff(1)\(cq\~man:roff
.EE
.sp
The arguments that are not existing files are looked-up as the
following
.IR \%man\~pages :
.B \%groff
(automatic search, should be found in \fIman\fP\~section\~1),
.B \%troff
(in section\~1),
and
.B \%roff
(in the section with the lowest number, being\~7 in this case).
.
The quotes around
.nh
.I \(cqtroff(1)\(cq
.hy
are necessary because the parentheses are special shell characters;
escaping them with a backslash character
.I \(rs(
and
.I \(rs)
would be possible, too.
.
The formatted files are concatenated and displayed in one piece.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~LANG=de\~groffer\~\-\-man\~\-\-viewer=galeon\~ls
.EE
.sp
Retrieve the German
.I \%man\~page
(language
.IR de )
for the
.B ls
program, decompress it, format it to
.I \%html
or
.I \%xhtml
format
.nh
.RI ( \%www\~mode )
.hy
and view the result in the web browser
.BR \%galeon .
The option
.B \-\-man
guarantees that the
.I \%man\~page
is retrieved, even when a local file
.B \%ls
exists in the actual directory.
.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~\-\-source\~'man:roff(7)'
.EE
.sp
Get the
.I \%man\~page
called
.I \%roff
in \fIman\fP\~section 7, decompress it, and print its unformatted
content, its source code.
.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~\-\-de-p\~\-\-in\~\-\-ap
.EE
.sp
This is a set of abbreviated arguments, it is determined as
.br
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer\~\-\-debug-params\~\-\-intermediate-output\~\-\-apropos
.EE
.sp
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~cat\~file.gz\~|\~groffer\~-Z\~-mfoo
.EE
.sp
.
The file
.B file.gz
is sent to standard input, this is decompressed, and then this is
transported to the
.I \%groff intermediate output mode
without post-processing
.RB ( groff
option
.BR \-Z ),
using macro package
.I \%foo
.RB ( groff
option
.BR \-m ).
.
.
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~echo\~'\(rsf(CBWOW!'\~|
> groffer \-\-x \-\-bg red \-\-fg yellow \-\-geometry 200x100 \-
.EE
.sp
.
Display the word \f(CBWOW!\fP in a small window in constant-width
bold font, using color yellow on red background.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "COMPATIBILITY"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \%groffer
program is written in Perl, the Perl version during writing was v5.8.8.
.
.
.P
.B \%groffer
provides its own parser for command-line arguments that is compatible
to both \%\f(CRPOSIX\fP
.BR \%getopts (1)
and \%\f(CRGNU\fP
.BR \%getopt (1).
It can handle option arguments and file names containing white space
and a large set of special characters.
.
The following standard types of options are supported.
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
The option consisting of a single minus
.B \-
refers to standard input.
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
A single minus followed by characters refers to a single character
option or a combination thereof; for example, the
.B \%groffer
short option combination
.B \-Qmfoo
is equivalent to
.BR \-Q\~\-m\~foo .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
Long options are options with names longer than one character; they
are always preceded by a double minus.
.
An option argument can either go to the next command-line argument or
be appended with an equal sign to the argument; for example,
.B \-\-long=arg
is equivalent to
.BR \-\-long\~arg .
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
An argument of
.B \-\-
ends option parsing; all further command-line arguments are
interpreted as
.I \%filespec
parameters, i.e.\& file names or constructs for searching
.IR \%man\~pages ).
.
.
.IP \*(BU 2m
All command-line arguments that are neither options nor option
arguments are interpreted as
.I \%filespec
parameters and stored until option parsing has finished.
.
For example, the command line
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer file1 \-a \-o arg file2
.EE
.sp
is equivalent to
.sp
.EX
\fIsh#\fR\~groffer \-a \-o arg \-\- file1 file2
.EE
.sp
.
.P
The free mixing of options and
.I \%filespec
parameters follows the GNU principle.
.
That does not fulfill the strange option behavior of \%\f(CRPOSIX\fP
that ends option processing as soon as the first non-option argument
has been reached.
.
The end of option processing can be forced by the option
.RB \[lq] \-\- \[rq]
anyway.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH AUTHORS
.\" ====================================================================
.B groffer
was written by
.MT groff\-bernd.warken\-72@\:web.de
Bernd Warken
.ME .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.P
.BR \%groff (1),
.BR \%troff (1)
.RS
Details on the options and environment variables available in
.BR \%groff ;
all of them can be used with
.BR \%groffer .
.RE
.
.
.TP
.BR \%grog (1)
This program tries to guess the necessary
.B \%groff
command-line options from the input and the
.B groffer
options.
.
.
.TP
.BR \%groff (7)
Documentation of the
.I \%groff
language.
.
.
.TP
.BR groff_char (7)
Documentation on the
.I \%groff
characters, special characters, and glyphs..
.
.
.TP
.BR groff_tmac (5)
Documentation on the
.I \%groff
macro files.
.
.
.TP
.BR groff_out (5)
Documentation on the
.I \%groff intermediate output
before the run of a
.IR postprocessor .
.nh
.RI ( ditroff
output).
.hy
.
This can be run by the
.B groff
or
.B groffer
option
.BR -Z .
.
.
.TP
.BR \%man (1)
The standard program to display
.IR \%man\~pages .
.
The information there is only useful if it is the
.I \%man\~page
for GNU
.BR man .
Then it documents the options and environment variables that are
supported by
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.TP
.BR \%gxditview (1)
.TQ
.BR \%xditview (1x)
.RS
Viewers for
.BR \%groffer 's
.IR \%x\~mode .
.RE
.
.
.TP
.BR \%kpdf (1)
.TQ
.BR \%kghostview (1)
.TQ
.BR \%evince (1)
.TQ
.BR \%ggv (1)
.TQ
.BR \%gv (1)
.TQ
.BR \%ghostview (1)
.TQ
.BR \%gs (1)
Viewers for
.BR \%groffer 's
.IR \%ps\~mode .
.
.
.TP
.BR \%kpdf (1)
.TQ
.BR \%acroread (1)
.TQ
.BR \%evince (1)
.TQ
.BR \%xpdf (1)
.TQ
.BR \%gpdf (1)
.TQ
.BR \%kghostview (1)
.TQ
.BR \%ggv (1)
Viewers for
.BR \%groffer 's
.IR \%pdf\~mode .
.
.
.P
.BR \%kdvi (1),
.BR \%xdvi (1),
.BR \%dvilx (1)
.RS
Viewers for
.BR \%groffer 's
.IR \%dvi\~mode .
.RE
.
.
.TP
.BR \%konqueror (1)
.TQ
.BR \%epiphany (1)
.TQ
.BR \%firefox (1)
.TQ
.BR \%mozilla (1)
.TQ
.BR \%netscape (1)
.TQ
.BR \%lynx (1)
Web-browsers for
.BR \%groffer 's
.IR \%html ,
.IR \%xhtml ,
or
.IR \%www\~mode .
.
.
.TP
.BR \%less (1)
.TQ
.BR more (1)
Standard pager program for the
.IR \%tty\~mode .
.
.
.TP
.BR \%gzip (1)
.TQ
.BR \%bzip2 (1)
.TQ
.BR \%xz (1)
The decompression programs supported by
.BR \%groffer .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Emacs settings
.\" ====================================================================
.
.\" Local Variables:
.\" mode: nroff
.\" End:
.\" vim: set filetype=groff:
